Turbo Bikes - The Coolest Failure

[FallenAngel]

[hillsy v2]

The Kwaka was the pick of the bunch - Kawasaki was pissed that Suzuki was stealing the show at the time with the GSX / Katana 16 valve bikes so they needed something to kick them in the pants until the GPz900r turned up. The 750 turbo was truly gnarly as opposed to the "civilised" offerings from the other marques.

[Herb]

In '83 I was traveling through the Smokey Mountians. I stopped at the overlook where they dedicated the park and got to talking to a couple that were touring on a Honda 500 turbo.
I had heard about the turbo lag and ask him about it. He said that it wasn't a problem if you kept the engine spooled up.
He had owned a CX500 that he traded in on the turbo.
Like me he had started out on 2 strokes and he said that the lag was a lot like the 2 stroke power band and was manageable. He loved the bike becfause even 2 up it had plenty of power to pull the hills.

[FallenAngel]

Back in the 80s I was working on American V*8sthose got blowers turbos where for import's And 6cyl diesels. I have grown up considerable since then.

I do like the look of the CX500 turbo

[hillsy v2]

Back in the 80s I was working on American V*8sthose got blowers turbos where for import's And 6cyl diesels. I have grown up considerable since then.

I do like the look of the CX500 turbo

The early 80's saw a lot of lower cc bikes be made for the American market due to the excise on anything over 700cc (an incentive to protect HD). Hence you saw 700cc variants of many 750cc bikes just so they could sell in the US - as well as the experiments with factory turbo bikes.

[Herb]

I often wondered why they went with the Turbo instead of the supercharger. There is very little lag on the supercharger which would have removed the major complaint.

My son owned one of the supercharged V-6 Super Coupes with the 5 speed trans and there was no noticable lag except at very low rpms in a higher gear.

BTW, Ford screwed the pooch with the supercharger. They special ordered them from a manufacturer with smaller bearings that were special made and only available through Ford and they quit the manufacturing of it. When the bearing went out it was impossible to replace them and once the car had a few years/miles it wasn't worth enough to do a complete replacement of the supercharger. That is why my son got rid of his.

[FallenAngel]

The early 80's saw a lot of lower cc bikes be made for the American market due to the excise on anything over 700cc (an incentive to protect HD). Hence you saw 700cc variants of many 750cc bikes just so they could sell in the US - as well as the experiments with factory turbo bikes.

I remember when Regan introduced the tariffs on imported bikes over 700cc I myself didnt understand why except that it had something to do with Harley. It had little to no impact on me at the time because I was more into hot rodding cars and trucks. Then like a whinny bitch Harley wanted to trade mark the sound ????

The Turbo scooters where born unfortunately they didnt work well and where short lived
I think now with the computer control induction systems we have today a turbo could work given the space for the turbo and proper plumbing is designed into the bike and a concentration on turbo lag is addressed .
I cant see a turbo motorcycle being more fun to ride then a normally aspirated bike
The question for me is Do I really need a bike with a turbo

No not really
Would it be cool to have a bike with a turbo

Heck yah

[hillsy v2]

The early 80's saw a lot of lower cc bikes be made for the American market due to the excise on anything over 700cc (an incentive to protect HD). Hence you saw 700cc variants of many 750cc bikes just so they could sell in the US - as well as the experiments with factory turbo bikes.

I remember when Regan introduced the tariffs on imported bikes over 700cc I myself didnt understand why except that it had something to do with Harley. It had little to no impact on me at the time because I was more into hot rodding cars and trucks. Then like a whinny bitch Harley wanted to trade mark the sound ????

The Turbo scooters where born unfortunately they didnt work well and where short lived
I think now with the computer control induction systems we have today a turbo could work given the space for the turbo and proper plumbing is designed into the bike and a concentration on turbo lag is addressed .
I cant see a turbo motorcycle being more fun to ride then a normally aspirated bike
The question for me is Do I really need a bike with a turbo

No not really
Would it be cool to have a bike with a turbo

Heck yah

Kawasaki now do the H2 and H2R - which are supercharged 1000 motors....



Stupid expensive though - but superchargers have no lag so it's a better option for a quick revving engine.

[Herb]

The early 80's saw a lot of lower cc bikes be made for the American market due to the excise on anything over 700cc (an incentive to protect HD). Hence you saw 700cc variants of many 750cc bikes just so they could sell in the US - as well as the experiments with factory turbo bikes.

I remember when Regan introduced the tariffs on imported bikes over 700cc I myself didnt understand why except that it had something to do with Harley. It had little to no impact on me at the time because I was more into hot rodding cars and trucks. Then like a whinny bitch Harley wanted to trade mark the sound ????

The Turbo scooters where born unfortunately they didnt work well and where short lived
I think now with the computer control induction systems we have today a turbo could work given the space for the turbo and proper plumbing is designed into the bike and a concentration on turbo lag is addressed .
I cant see a turbo motorcycle being more fun to ride then a normally aspirated bike
The question for me is Do I really need a bike with a turbo

No not really
Would it be cool to have a bike with a turbo

Heck yah

The main reason for turbos is that you get the power of a much larger engine than if the small one was naturally aspirated and an added benefit is you still get decent gas mileage.

In cars and trucks the turbo lag is not very noticable and there is no huge power boost when it comes on line. Maybe the bikes are more of an issue, but I doubt it.

I learned to ride on small displacement 2 strokes. The Yamaha Twin Jet 100 was the first new bike I bought. After I got done messing with it the power band was between 7 and 10 grand. At 5 grand in 2nd you crank the throttle on and at 7 it would slap you in the ass and pull the front wheel up. The fucking object is to keep them in the power band.

[FallenAngel]

Kawasaki now do the H2 and H2R - which are supercharged 1000 motors....
Stupid expensive though - but superchargers have no lag so it's a better option for a quick revving engine.

True the super charger does not have the lag a turbo does
Both have their pros and cons
Turbos have come a long way form the units of the 80s

Some time ago I posted a photo of a super charged Harley sportster
I asked the builder what it was like and with a huge grin he told me it was scary as fuck and didnt ride it when it rain

[hillsy v2]

Kawasaki now do the H2 and H2R - which are supercharged 1000 motors....
Stupid expensive though - but superchargers have no lag so it's a better option for a quick revving engine.

True the super charger does not have the lag a turbo does
Both have their pros and cons
Turbos have come a long way form the units of the 80s

Some time ago I posted a photo of a super charged Harley sportster
I asked the builder what it was like and with a huge grin he told me it was scary as fuck and didnt ride it when it rain

Turbos are far easier to put on bikes from an aftermarket perspective - far easier to tap into the exhaust than find a drive source for a blower. Much easier under the bonnet of a car where room is generally not at a premium and there are external pulley sources.

I find it interesting that Kawasaki's foray into supercharging hasn't spawned copies from the other marques? Can't say I've heard of any negative comments about the Kwakas but who knows...

[FallenAngel]

Turbos are far easier to put on bikes from an aftermarket perspective - far easier to tap into the exhaust than find a drive source for a blower. Much easier under the bonnet of a car where room is generally not at a premium and there are external pulley sources.

I find it interesting that Kawasaki's foray into supercharging hasn't spawned copies from the other marques? Can't say I've heard of any negative comments about the Kwakas but who knows...

Your right
Pound for pound the turbo is a much better more bang for the buck option. One of the best points is it will fit under the hood. All thats needed is some creative plumbing. At least where cars and small trucks are concerned.
The amount of hoarse power and torque increase is about the same the draw back to super chargers is you use power to make power the turbo uses spent gases to spin up an impeller other then turbo lag the turbo is the best way to go.
With the super charger the increase of power is instantaneous but it depends on a mechanical drive or belt to spin up the vanes over time those parts are prone to fail

[Herb]

The plumbing for a turbo can look like an octopus, especially if an intercooler is used and it does take up a lot of space.
The supercharger uses less than half the space.

They both have advantages and disadvantages, my preference is the supercharger, especially with fuel injection, personal opinions may vary...

[FallenAngel]